Crosswords and Christian living

Friday, September 13, 2013
The Rev. Clark Bates

I love to work a crossword puzzle! I try to make the time do the crossword puzzle each night in the McCook Daily Gazette. I have read that it is good training for your mind, but that isn't why I do it. It is sometimes quite a challenge to come up with all the right answers and while I like a good challenge that isn't my main motivation for doing the puzzle either. I love to do crossword puzzle because the clues are helpful, the answers are very specific and you know when you have completed the puzzle. There are very few things in the rest of my life that are so clear and concise.

I have discovered that as I make this journey through life that many times I am faced with decisions where there is no clear picture of what is right and what is wrong. Even as I write this article I have a friend call to invite me to spend some time with him. He is from out of town and I don't get to see him often and I do enjoy his company and yet I also have a number of things that I need to do at work. My choice is to spend time with my friend or spend time at work, neither is wrong in fact both are a good thing so which do I choose?

Sometimes the issue is even more pressing, consider the following scenario. You have a Christian friend who is overtaken by a sin in their life and they don't seem to be able to gain victory over that sin. Do you confront them with their sin by getting in their face and practice tough love in your correction or do you deal with them gently and try to encourage them along the path to repentance. You might answer, "it depends." You would want to know a number of factors like how long they have been involved in this sin, or if they have been confronted before, or which method of rebuke my work better with their personality. So much of how you would react depends upon what type of person you are. I can find Biblical support for both approaches, neither is wrong.

Often in my ministry as a pastor I will have people come to me who are experiencing a struggle or dilemma in their life and they will ask the question, "What do you think I should do?" Once in a while the answer to their dilemma is clearly defined in the Scriptures and I can point them to the Bible and tell them this is what God would have you do, but most times it isn't that easy...because life isn't like a crossword puzzle. Most of the time I can help them go through their options and hopefully give them clarity but ultimately they have to make a tough decision and then live with it.

I have come to discover that God places us in this position of having to make a decision almost daily because He wants us to learn to depend upon Him for guidance. The wise of writer of the Proverbs was thinking this when he penned the familiar words, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV) Perhaps God isn't looking for the person who has all the right answers all the time. Perhaps he is looking for the person with a surrendered will who is praying, "Lord I really don't know what is the right choice but I know you do and I am going to trust you to lead me well."

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